Brian
Kremer, a Ventura
firefighter, Yveto Dorce, Brian Price, and Chad Brisendine in Haiti
helping with the relief efforts. Yveto was their Haitian guide and
Brian Price and Chad are from the Fresno Fire Dept

Two Ventura Firefighters offer hope to Haiti

By Tracy Valentine

Nothing compares to what
two Ventura firefighters saw during
their volunteer relief efforts in Haiti in the aftermath of a 7.0
earthquake which currently ranks as the seventh deadliest natural
disaster ever.

Nothing compares.

Using their own money,
the two Venturans flew to the Dominican
Republic in separate teams as members of Firefighters for Christ to
endure 10 days of unspeakable devastation to offer their expertise,
prayers, and to deliver over a ton of medical supplies donated by fire
companies.

For Mike Eggleston, a
retired Ventura County firefighter who
served the fire department for 30 years, nothing compares. Not even the
devastation he saw in New Orleans where he volunteered after Hurricane
Katrina.

Little can be said to
explain the scope of how the people of
Haiti still suffer.

Eggleston recounts what
he saw during his trip February 2-11
as the worst he’s seen.

“Nothing can prepare a person for the massive
destruction that
we saw when we arrived in Port-au-Prince,” Eggleston said.

“Imagine everything you
saw on TV combined with 90 degree
temperatures and high humidity, the smell of many people in a confined
area all trying desperately to get their lives back together with not a
lot of hope,” he said.

The stink of death, even
weeks after the earthquake, still
blows through the city. The body count is as high as 230,000, and
thousands of bodies, most of them in Port-au-Prince, still remain
buried in the rubble. These bodies were once a child’s mother,
someone’s father, or long-time friend.

Nothing compares.

Brian Kremer, a Ventura
firefighter for 9 years, struggles to
find the words to describe what he experienced during his trip with the
first team from Firefighters for Christ who spent Jan. 21-Feb. 1 on the
scene in Haiti.

“What I saw in Haiti was
truly difficult to describe. We saw
utter devastation and collapsed buildings for miles and miles,” Kremer
said.

“When we arrived in
Haiti, we were greeted by a Haitian guide
who took us to a church compound in Carrfour, which is located a few
miles west of Port-au-Prince.

“To our surprise, the
first morning in Haiti, we attended a
church service and found about 100

Haitians singing, dancing and
praising God. They had drums, guitars, and a trumpet. It was amazing to
see their passionate spirit amongst utter devastation. Many of them had
just lost loved ones, and they still found a way to be thankful,”
Kremer said.

Kremer also saw the
contrast.

“I mostly worked at the
clinic in Carrfour, and each day we
saw between 300-500 patients. There were many people with traumatic
injuries, and we mostly helped with cleaning wounds, applying fresh
dressings, starting I.V.’s, and giving antibiotics to help fight
infections,” he said.

Kremer’s team traveled
dirt roads pitted with potholes to take
severely injured patients to a make-shift hospital.

“We rented a driver with
a Toyota truck for $20 a day to drive
critical patients to a local field hospital,” he said.

Kremer saw broken bones,
amputations, death.

“What really got to me,
though, was not the traumatic
injuries. It was a 12 year old boy named Patrick, whose parents had
been killed in the earthquake,” Kremer said.

“Patrick was also trapped
for about 20 minutes under the
rubble and was rescued. Patrick was so traumatized that he was unable
to eat, drink, or even speak for the two weeks following the
earthquake. He had a distant gaze and would just stare off into the
corner of the room. We were able to give him some I.V. fluids and he
took a few sips of water,” he said.

“That incident made me
realize that some of the worst injuries
are not the physical injuries, but the emotional scars that will be
with these people for the rest of their lives,” he said.

Both Kremer and Eggleston
have returned to Ventura without
injury or illness. Neither knows if they will join the 3rd team from
Firefighters for Christ going to Haiti in April.

Eggleston said he could
easily return to Haiti. “I think about
it often,” he said.

Kremer said he has been
deeply affected by the experience.

“I have not yet decided
if I will return,” Kremer said. He
added that he is considering taking his family to Haiti to help the
children in the orphanages.

Kremer said much still
needs to be done for the people of
Haiti.

“If people would like to
know how they could be involved in
helping out financially, I would like to recommend two organizations
that are doing great work in Haiti. Here are their websites, he said.